We have been receiving a lot of calls from our customers lately asking about Heartbleed. People are asking what it is, and how they can protect themselves. Below is a description of Heartbleed, and what you need to do to start regaining your internet security.

What steps should you take?

Heartbleed needs to be taken VERY seriously, and as a result the steps to start solidifying your internet security again are going to be cumbersome.

“Due of the complex nature of this vulnerability, changing your passwords before sites update their version of OpenSSL won’t fully protect you.

Here are some simple steps you can take as a precaution:

Change your passwords on any website that contains sensitive information about you. You should first confirm that the site does not contain the Heartbleed vulnerability by using this tool HERE.

Beware of phishing emails and type website addresses directly in your browser instead of clicking on a link through an email.

Monitor your bank and credit card accounts for unusual activity.

We recommend you only exchange personal or sensitive information such as your credit card number if the site is not affected by Heartbleed.” – Norton Antivirus

Read on to find out more on Heartbleed.

What is Heartbleed?

Heartbleed is a bug that was discovered with the way private information is encrypted over the internet. When you are accessing a website, your computer is communicating with it by both sending and receiving information back and forth. Majority of the time this is done through a security tool known as OpenSSL. Heartbleed is the name of the bug that has shown to be a flaw in the way this process works, and in turn made all of this information that has been sent between the internet and your computer visible and accessible to anyone who is looking for it.

What makes the Heartbleed Bug unique?

Most bugs come and go and are fixed by new versions. However this bug has left large amount of private keys and other secrets exposed to the Internet. Considering the long exposure, ease of exploitation and attacks leaving no trace this exposure should be taken seriously.

What type of people and websites are affected by Heartbleed?

Over 80% of all websites on the entire internet have been affected by this bug. The result leads to a terrifying number of people who have been affected or at least susceptible to it. Furthermore you might have client side software on your computer that could expose the data from your computer if you connect to compromised services. In fact, since over 90% of people on the internet have been vulnerable to it, Heartbleed is now known as the most catastrophic thing that has happened on the internet since it’s creation. To reiterate, banks, social media, news websites, blogs, e-mail, and websites with streaming content have all been affected thus making you the consumer vulnerable. Below is a very small list of some of the websites that have been affected.

A SMALL checklist from Mashable.com of some of the major sites affected by Heartbleed

It seems like every time one of are due for an upgrade on our smartphones, we take advantage of the offer and get rid of our old phone before even holding onto it for more than a year. The concept behind this incredibly unique smartphone is to finally develop a phone that users will hold onto and have EXTREMELY customizable features.

Your first smartphone that’s built by you, for you.

What makes this phone different from any other phone on the market, is the ability to purchase modules for their phone and upgrade it on the fly and how they see fit. Though the prototype is still currently in development, major companies such as GOOGLE are making sure they are a part of this revolutionary hand held device. For more information on Project Ara you can go to their homepage HERE. Comment and let us know what you think? Would our users buy this and use this?

With Google Glass coming out to the public today 4/15/14, the next question is naturally ” what’s next? ” Well, Google is way ahead of you on that one with contact lenses that could have the ability to be equipped with night vision, zoom capability, the ability to give vision to the blind, and help those with diabetes keep an eye on their blood. The initial point of this Google project is focused around the diabetes issue going on in the world. People with diabetes have to consistently monitor their blood glucose levels, and deal with sugar spikes and drops that can affect their body at any point throughout the day. These lenses have the ability to monitor blood glucose levels via tears through the eyes. While the concept for these came out back in January, there are new developments in the computer based contact lenses that show they can do much, much more.

Recent news shows that soon contact lenses will have the ability to zoom, which could lead to major assistance with the blind and for those of us who have regular vision… supervision. A lens being developed by Eric Tremblay and the people at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland and at the University of California, San Diego is proving to have the ability of almost 3x what normal vision is capable of. Check out the full article HERE.

Not enough for you? How about night vision? Contact lenses using an incredibly strong version of carbon known as graphene is the underlying technology that researchers are trying to effectively combine with contact lenses. Although graphene absorbs less than 2.5% of the light that hits it (which isn’t nearly enough light to generate a usable infrared signal), when the graphene is combined with a thin layer of insulation the signal that researchers are aiming for was significantly increased. In fact, the signal was increased so much that they are able to see the full infrared spectrum thus giving the ability to create a night vision lens in the future. Not only is this going to give the wearer the ability to have night vision, but infrared devices can be used to see blood vessels, sketches under layers of paint (X-Ray vision anyone?), and even gas leaks.

Would you wear these? Let us know what you guys think by leaving a comment below!

No, you didn’t read it wrong. For one day only, Google will be making Google Glass available to the general public. If you’re not familiar with Google Glass, you will be soon. Glass is Google’s wearable active computer accessory based around world exploration with a mounted visual display that sits just above the user’s eye. The point of Glass is to allow the user to be able to engage with the device in a smartphone like format, but completely hands free. Instead of using their hands to interact with the device, users will now be interacting via voice commands and head movement. A simple head tilt of around 30° will be your unique movement signature to activate the display allowing for the consumer to have full access to all of the apps and features that they have linked with their phone and the Glass device. We could spend all day going over the endless possibilities of Glass, but we figure you’d probably rather watch a cool video on it so we found one for you just down below. After watching the video a lot of you might find yourself interested in the April 15th LIMITED TIME release date and how much this sweet device is going to run you. Well for a cool $1500, you can be walking the streets like a true android in no time. Click HERE to go sign up for Glass today!

Cellphone carriers will be a bit on edge for a while after finding out Google is planning to establish their own wireless service. Rumors speculate that Google has had several meetings with at least two of the major carriers – Sprint and Verizon. The talk revolved around Google having access to resell over their networks giving them a quick jump into the game. It’s finally happening, Google’s plans seem to all point towards total domination of all technological markets. read the full story HERE

Microsoft has just announced that they will be releasing Cortana as their solution to Google and Siri’s voice search tool on their smart devices. She will be able to make phone calls, send text messages, take notes, give reminders, and even set alarms. Cortana will be able to work with many 3rd party apps to make phone navigation a breeze. Check out the full story from Engadget HERE.